Slovakia needs a new security strategy

24/07/2015

Major developments of the security environment have occurred since the current Slovakia’s security strategy was adopted in 2005. Today, crises can break out abruptly, what puts a pressure on us to anticipate and manage them better. The new security strategy – expected to be prepared by the next government – will have to address new threats in a more flexible and effective manner.

On July 16, 2015, the Central European Policy Institute organized an expert roundtable to discuss the form and content of a new document to involve relevant actors in an emerging nation-wide debate. The event, as well as consultations undertook during the summer of 2015 will serve as an inspiration for the authors of CEPI’s forthcoming policy brief on this topic, being elaborated with the Slovak foreign ministry’s support.

As suggested during the roundtable, even though many of the new threats has been previously described, it is only now when their intensity and impact on the country and the regions make them urgent and requiring significant financial, material and human resources. Moreover, it is more and more difficult to draw a clear line between external and internal threats, giving another reason to deal with them in complex. This is even more evident after our accession to the EU and NATO as our security is linked with security of other member states.